March, 1923 
i; 
The Queensland Naturalist. 
The Act of 1880 was re])ealed in 1885 by one that was 
on somewhat similar lineSj but gave more ample powers 
of destruction. 
The authorities were evidently becoming somewhat 
alarmed about this time, for on a ship arriving in the 
Brisbane River wdh a s{)litary rabbit on boai'd, an official 
was sent with orders to yee the unfortunate animal de- 
stroyed. 
Shortly afterwards, in 1886, the Government com- 
meneed the erection o-f a wire netting fence on the 
southern bordei’ of tlie State at a point sixteen miles west 
of the Warrego River, and the work was continued until, 
in 1891, the fence extended to witliiii a Igav m.lles of 
Haddon Corner 011 the Soulh Au^traliau boundary (lati- 
tude 26 S.). It was afte^rwards extended in an easterly 
directio)! to 1\1 ungindi. 
It is impos.s’il)le to say where rabbits first entered 
Queensland from the South. Some people believe that 
it was near Mungindi or Womjmh, while others are of 
opinion lliat they ciiuie up tiie Warrego River. This 
was in 1886. Less than five years afterwards traces of 
rabbits were sieeu 140 miles beyond the fence. 
From the time of their invasion of Queensland from 
the South there hasi been eontiuual warfare against rab- 
bits. The limits of this paper will not permit of the narra- 
tion of the measures taken in the endeavour to suppress 
them. Numerous Acts of Parliament have been pas, s'ed, over 
twenty-one thousand miles of rabbit-proof fences 
have been erected in thi.^ Sta!e alone, and mucli public 
and private money has been ex[)euded, but the rodents 
continue t(t sfwead. It juust not be supposed that they are 
always u myriads. The degree of infestation varies, 
and thev may be very plentiful at t)ne time in a given 
locality, while late)’ on they may be scarce. Almost 
exterminated periodically by Nature’s catastrophes in 
the shape of dror.ght, bu.>di fire, and flood, as soon as 
■conditions are favourable they brciul up again ra])idly 
in readiness for the next “set-back.^' 
To-day, the d' stribiution oif rabbits is approximately 
as’ shown on tlie map appended. They have, in a little 
more than sixty yeai-'s. spread over an area of about 
1.893.000 s(puir(‘ miles of the territory of Australia, of 
which about 256,500 s(|'uare miles is in Queens'land. And 
this in spite of the efforts of man to subdue them! 
